Late last year I was commissioned by Vagabond Co. to paint a custom skate deck which is now up for grabs in their Beneath the Skin magazine! To enter, all you need to do is visit their website here, pay the princely sum of $2 to download the mag, and then you’re free to enter the competition. The comp is open for worldwide entries so get reading!

You can even check out a movie of the making of it here:

I was also lucky enough to be granted an extensive interview for the mag, so keep your eyes peeled for some more Fieldey madness inside!

So you’ve turned your skate deck into a veritable work of art and you wanna hang it on your wall… how do you do this? Here’s my handy guide, starting with the cheapest and quickest method to the more professional approaches.

El cheapo – fishing line

The easiest and cheapest way to hang your deck is to simply thread a piece of fishing line through the holes, tie it with a granny knot and sling that baby up on the wall.

Pros:

Like I say, hella cheap and quick to do

Pretty much invisible

Cons:

Looks as cheap as it is

The line can start to rub against your artwork and chafe the paint

The deck can rock in a breeze as the nose and tail sit against the wall.

Picture hanger

This is a step up from the first option – buy yourself some drywall anchors/star plugs, screw eyes, and picture hanging wire from the hardware store and have your pliers ready. Drywall anchors are little plastic plugs that are used for drilling screws into walls, but in this case they’re going to fill out the hole in the deck so you can screw your eyelet into it.

You’ll need to find a drywall anchor that fits your board and still allows you to screw the eyelet in. I use a 25mm red one, but you might need to play around to find the right size. Trim the anchor to the approximate length (thickness of the wood) using pliers. Jam the round end of the anchor into the hole and use the pliers to force it in – you need a tight fit so that it stays in when the board is on the wall. Grab your eyelet of choice (I like a fairly small one) and screw it into the anchor. Check that everything is nice and firmly in place, then cut yourself a length of metal picture wire and attach it to each eyelet and tie it nice and tight. You’ll need to allow a bit of slack in the wire so that the board can hang – don’t make it too tight.

Pros:

It looks more pro than the first option and is more suitable for an art exhibition or other non-permanent display

Cons:

There’s a fair bit of shagging around and guess work in there

You’ll have the same problem with the nose and the tail touching the wall, the board will be more likely to rock

If you don’t achieve a tight enough fit the anchors can slip out of the holes.

Floating wall mount

The guys at Sk8ology sent me some of their products the other day to try out, and I was impressed! Essentially it’s an ingenious product that is drilled into the wall to hang your deck in a more pro and permanent way. Check out the video below to see how it works:

Pros:

It’s a totally permanent floating solution so the nose and tail aren’t touching on the wall which means they won’t move in a breeze or if they get knocked

You also get the choice as to whether you want to lock the board on the wall so it can’t be lifted up, or be able to easily take it off when required

It looks more professional and presents your decks as the serious pieces of art that they are.

Cons:

Costs a little bit more than the others at $9.99 for the deck display without the drill bit, but it’s hardly likely to break the bank now is it?

So there you have it, different strokes for different folks! If you’ve got a different method for hanging your board feel free to share it in the comments below.

This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon, meaning that if you buy any of the products mentioned above, at no cost to you, I get a small commission for the sale which helps me keep on making rad content!

Well friends, it’s almost that time again… when you have to start looking for smashingly tasteful Xmas gifts for your loved ones. If you’re after something for the person that’s got it all or something for your good self, consider ordering a Fieldey commission! The following boards have all been commissioned from yours truly and I can paint:

If you don’t know what a teratoma is, it’s Greek for “monstrous tumour” which says it all really. They are fascinatingly hideous (mostly benign) tumours that contain a freakish assortment cells like skin, hair, bone, teeth, brain tissue, eyes and even possibly your parasitic twin – GASP! Also, they are quite often happily mutating away in unsuspecting victims, so you could have a sweet little of bundle of teeth, hair, pus and tiny legs living in you *right now*… Sleep tight!